Adinolfi and Philippi also led movement and puppetry workshops for all ages. One of the most rewarding asked parents and children to work together to create two puppets – a pull-toy rowboat in which all oars rowed in unison, and a pod of whales swimming or spouting. One museum educator noted that some children were nervous, skeptical that they would be able to create puppets as magical as those demonstrated by Concrete Temple Theatre. By the end of the class, they were thrilled at what they produced under Adinolfi and Philippi’s patient tutelage. They left the workshop with a feeling of wonder and also one of accomplishment.
-Kirstin Freeman Gamble, Curator of Education, Nantucket Historical Association
Concrete Temple Theatre’s Artistic Directors, Carlo Adinolfi and Renee Philippi, have lead workshops and taught skills to children, college students, community groups, senior citizens and peers for the past ten years, at universities, museums, festivals, senior homes and theatres. Concrete Temple’s teaching is internationally recognized and celebrated for being as diverse and multi-disciplinary as the art they create. They have taught theatre, puppetry, visual arts, and dance skills for groups and institutions including: Sirovich Senior Center, NYC; University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka; Theatre Department of Lyceum International in Colombo, Sri Lanka; University of Michigan – Flint, Michigan; The City College of New York – CUNY, NYC; Ethiraj Women’s College, Chennai, India; American Center, Kolkata, India; Academy of Theatre Arts, Mumbai, India; American Center, American Embassy, Delhi, India; Ranga Shankara, Bangalore, India; Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY; The Yard and Martha Vineyard’s Historical Association, Martha’s Vineyard, MA; Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, MA; Karagoz Puppet Museum, Bursa, Turkey; Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, Turkey.
Adaptation: introduces participants to the skill of adapting by using snippets of Concrete Temple’s adaptation of Melville’s Moby Dick, The Whale, for illustration. Participants are asked at the beginning of the workshop to select text that they themselves would like to put into a different form, be it theatre, film, TV, visual arts. The workshop concludes with its members sharing their ideas for adaptation or the actual pieces they have created.
Create Your Own Work: has participants creating their own theatre piece(s), while focusing on different skills: playwriting, dramaturgy, directing, acting, puppetry, and physical theatre. Participants are given a specific topic(s) from which to create a piece, with the length of the pieces fluctuating based on the number and length of sessions. The course can also be “creating your own Solo Work.”
Directing: introduces participants to the basics of directing and dramaturgy as they direct a scene from either an assigned text or a play of their own choosing.
Multi-Media, Projections, and Technology: Concrete Temple makes use of multi-media and projections in its work. This course introduces participants to creating images for projecting through Photoshop, Powerpoint, and digital movies and concludes with the creation of their own projections/movies that are then used with in-motion performers.
Physical/Visual Theatre: focuses on creating work that is based on a physical and/or visual narrative. It answers the question: how do I tell a story without language? The result can be either abstract or linear.
Puppetry and Object Theatre: can either introduce or be an in depth approach to all facets of puppetry, including: toy theatre, shadow puppets, rod puppets, and Bunraku, as well as object theatre. The workshop can be about designing and building, creating a storyline/narrative, performance technique, or all these as well as creating your own puppet piece.
Speaking Out: This workshop is for all types of public speakers, from performers and teachers, to executives and tour guides. It emphasizes the necessary connectedness of the body and the voice, and the need for the two instruments to work together in any kind of public speaking.
Technique: focuses on the basics of performance: Acting, Movement, Voice, Improvisation and when appropriate Dance and Puppetry.
Any of the above can be taught as a Master Class. Concrete Temple Theatre also leads/teaches courses in: acting, playwriting, improvisation, scenic design, drafting, and technical theatre, as well as presenting lectures or Lecture/ Demonstrations. All workshops are specifically tailored to serve the participants, be they theatre artists, college students, high school students, artists of varied disciplines, or members of the local community.
For additional information on workshops, performances, fees, and availability, contact Renee and Carlo: 212/598-9135 or Renee@ConcreteTempleTheatre.com
…one of the most stirring uses of puppetry I’ve ever experienced. They are mature, visionary artists, with a strong international history of performance and a deep, investigative curiosity about the ways theatre can explore our collective existence.
-Gabriel Shanks, Executive Director, The Drama League